$25,000 Do Truly Inspire Me
Yesterday I stumbled upon Tim Denning’s post. Great job on the headline, I was hooked.
Inevitably, someone talking about that obscene amount of money for a month’s work on Medium grabbed my attention. Not because I wanted to be placed in time to earn that money on Medium, like best case tomorrow. No, I wanted to see what Tim has to say with that headline. I wanted to see if there is any substance behind it.
It’s only natural to want to feel the price tag on your work.
My reading list is full of articles about how to earn money here. Recent headlines read something in the ballpark of, Medium changed, and it doubled my income. Well, good for all of them. By far, and that means that the Big Bang feels closer to me than the instance of earning any money in Medium, I am not there yet. Maybe never. Halfheartedly I try not to care about those things. Well, more quarterheartedly. Views are lovely, reads are better, and claps, well, we moved beyond that now. And it’s only a natural progression to want to feel a price tag on your work. It triggers our awful but yet so necessary reward center.
I do dream about earning money with my writing, doing something that I genuinely love, and getting paid for that. Dream job, you know that speech. And there are tons of words spilled here on that topic as well. What grabbed my attention for Tim‘s post was more the living part and not the figures behind the dollar sign. Would the headline have been, how you earn $25.000 in a month on Medium, my thumb wouldn’t have hovered a second over that post. I would immediately scroll it out of sight. I read to much of that snake oil. Seriously. It took me weeks to get my reading list cleaned of that.
Do it for yourself and not the money.
Tim‘s post, on the other hand, surprised me with its honesty. I don’t care if the number in the headline is valid or if it’s some clever bullshit that kept me reading. What I cared about in that post is that it is a genuine call for not doing it for the money. Do it for yourself. And that is actually what I seek in writing. Somethings that does not fill your bank account but your very own heart and soul.
Well, of course, we all got to eat and live. That’s what the money ist for. But other than that? No. I wouldn’t need that sum of money on my bank account. And that’s where I wholeheartedly agree with Tim. Money serves you for the basic needs you have to take care of. What’s above that magic line that’s giving you the freedom to use it for others. I what way ever. It even gives you more time. If you don’t need to worry about the basics, it leaves you more space to take of others. Easy math. If you’re sprinting through your day between three jobs and want to get a decent amount of sleep, well, what is there left for others or even for your self. I’ve never been at that point, hopefully, will never be. But I wouldn’t need the first-hand experience for that calculation of money and time versus purpose and satisfaction.
A perfect lesson taught…
Yes, it’s not the $25,000 that inspires me; it’s what’s next to it. Life and inspiration. Careful thinking that I am not in it for the money, but for fostering my purpose and satisfaction. It’s a perfect lesson taught that no matter what figure he would have put in the headline, the text next to it and below, along with the clear message, would have been the same. Don’t do it for the money. But put an obscene one in the headline, so you grab the attention.
So I did. And apologies Tim Denning for hijacking your valuable post. I was done with the best of intentions.
